Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Helen Church
4106 Mountain St.
Beamsville, ON L0R 1B7
Ph: 905-562-7427
Fax: 905-563-0003
Email: office@sthelenscatholic.ca
Opened - October 2, 1938 Est. as a Parish - January 1, 1986
HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE
Reconciliation - Saturday April 13, 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. Holy Saturday - April 20:
Mass of Chrism - Tuesday April 16, 7:30 p.m. @ Blessing of Easter Foods - 11:00 a.m.
St. Alfred Church, 272 Vine St., St. Catharines Reconciliation - 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Mass of the Lord’s Supper - Thursday April 18, 7:00 p.m. Easter Vigil - 8:00 p.m.
Celebration of the Lord’s Passion - Friday April 19, 3:00 p.m. Easter Sunday - April 21 - 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
Stations of the Cross - Friday April 19, 5:30 p.m. Altar Server Rehearsal:
Pastor: Rev. Krzysztof Szczepanik Thurs. April 18, 6:30 p.m.
Website: www.sthelenscatholic.ca Fri. April 19, 2:30 p.m.
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/sthelenscatholic Sat. April 20, 10:30 a.m.
Points of Interest
ONLY 6 SPOTS REMAINING!!! Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Caesarea, Mt.
Carmel, Megiddo, Galilee, Jor-
dan River, Cana, Nazareth, Mt
Tabor, Beit Shean, Old & New
City of Jerusalem, Bethlehem,
Masada, Qumran, Dead Sea,
Eilat, Negev
Pilgrimage Package Price
$3,995.00 CAD pp based on
Join FR. KRZYSZTOF on a double occupancy. To register
PILGRIMAGE to the HOLY LAND and more info, call the office.
HOSANNA GOOD FRIDAY
Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Good Friday is such a pow-
(Lk 19) Procession erful day; we venerate the
God has given me a well-trained tongue. (Is 50) sign which is central to our
He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. (Phil 2) faith - the cross, because on
This is my body, which will be given for you. (Lk 22) it the sinless one experi-
enced the fullest emptying
Passion week ends of himself, the fullest shar-
our celebration of ing in what it is to be hu-
Lent. Our Lenten man, to enter the darkness of death. It is the ultimate
preparations have submission’ (as the second reading says), by which the
been focused on suffering servant “is made perfect”. By this death, our
improving our re- high priest feels “our weaknesses with us”, and leads
sponse to God’s each of us by the hand through our own death to the
call so that we, His liberation we shall celebrate tomorrow. The cross is
children, will be ready to come home and live for all thus triumphant, a victory-sign.
eternity. Jesus, our eldest brother, has showed us how
to live His life so that we can gain eternal life. Our HOLY SATURDAY
readings today show us how Jesus freely became the Holy Saturday is about emptiness. ‘The cross is empty
eternal perfect sacrifice – the one sacrifice which could now, and still.’ Where is the Lord? The heavens and
open the gates of heaven so that we could have our sins the earth cry out with longing for the sinless one who is
forgiven and forgotten. The sacrifice instituted the New not to be found. We, the people of the sacraments, are
Covenant with God; the covenant in which we are no denied the sacraments, to create in us the same longing.
longer God’s slaves but His children. As with all cove- We wait, as mourners beside a grave, unsettled, ill at
nants, this covenant is sealed with a meal, a meal in ease, almost not knowing what to do with ourselves.
which all parties partake and which is offered to God. The reader, like the other ministers of the Church, has
The offering to God is described in Revelation 5:6 by only one thing to do today: to pray through the empti-
John: “Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne ness of Holy Saturday. It must not be like any other day
and the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb - there simply is no other day like it.
that seemed to have been slain.” The meal in which we
partake is the Holy Eucharist promised by Jesus at Ca- EASTER VIGIL
pernaum “Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man Easter is the original feast, and
and drink His blood you have no life within you. Who- this vigil is ‘the mother of all
ever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, vigils’. It is thus the most sol-
and I will raise him on the last day.” (John 6:53-54). emn, special and sacred celebra-
This meal was provided for us by Jesus at the Last Supper. tion of the whole liturgical year.
Tonight we welcome the Risen
HOLY THURSDAY Christ by using symbols of fire, light, water, bread and
The day we celebrate as Holy Thurs- wine, and we know that He is with us. More than ever
day is the day in Jesus’ time which He is present in his celebrated word, as in the light of
was the preparation day for the Pass- his rising we review God’s eternal plan of salvation,
over. Jesus sent in the Apostles from prefigured in the history of ancient Israel, achieved in
Bethany to reserve a place for the the rising of the eternal Word, and present in the Sacra-
Passover meal. At evening, which is ments of the Church. Our preparation for this feast
at the beginning of a new day as the must be sincere and faithfully done - because this is the
Hebrews account time (from sun- feast which most clearly celebrates who we are as the
down to sundown), the apostles and holy people of God, gathered in the light of Christ by
Jesus gathered together for the Passover meal, and Our the power of the Spirit.
Lord washed the feet of the apostles. During the Passo-
ver meal Our Lord instituted the Blessed Sacrament as EASTER SUNDAY
His eternal memorial. Toward the end of the meal Ju- When the Word is proclaimed, it is real and active – the
das, identified as the traitor, left. He foretold the be- Lord is present, and what is described is, in a sense,
trayal of Peter and in the last discourse encouraged happening now. On certain days this is made more ob-
them to love one another. Interrupting the Passover vious by the selection of scripture that refers to a par-
meal prior to its completion, Jesus and His apostles go ticular time or day. Such a selection occurs this morn-
out to the Mount of Olives. At Gethsemane on the ing, when we go with Mary Magdalene to visit the
Mount of Olives, He took the three apostles (Peter, tomb, only to make – with her – a momentous discov-
James, and John) and began His agony in the garden. ery: the tomb is empty, He is risen!